Is This The Next Doctor?

But then another reason for the Doctor-Lite episodes is to give Doctor and companion a bit of a break. Example in season 1 the main reason Adam tagged along in The Long Game was so they could have him off doing his own subplot with guest actors and give Eccleston and Piper a break.

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Less so they could give them a break, and more so they could catch up after filming on the initial three episodes went way longer than originally scheduled...

I would guess giving Karen Gillan a break was a similar reason for why in season 5 we had the Amy-lite The Lodger.

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Or they simply commissioned scripts so that they could double-bank if they needed to (as had been done in all four previous series).

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I thought double-banking was only done with seasons 2-4 because they had to accomodate Christmas specials. Since season 5 didn't need to do that (Christmas Carol would have been filmed with season 6) there wouldn't be any need for double-banking.

I thought double-banking was only done with seasons 2-4 because they had to accomodate Christmas specials. Since season 5 didn't need to do that (Christmas Carol would have been filmed with season 6) there wouldn't be any need for double-banking.

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They didn't "fully" double-bank episodes until series 2, but it had also been done to an extent in series 1 with parts of "The Long Game" being filmed with Adam while "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" were still being filmed with the Doctor/Rose.

There wouldn't have been any double-banking in series 5 if everything went according to schedule. But the show had a brand new production team, who knew about the difficulties back in the first year. It would be reasonable for Moffat to have commissioned "double bankable" scripts with an eye to that being a possibility if the schedule ending up slipping as it had in years past.

Anthony Daniels plays C3PO. Ben Daniels was the senior crown prosecutor (the Sam Waterston equivalent) in the first four seasons of Law & Order: UK -- with Freema Agyeman as his junior prosecutor, so it would be kind of a turnabout thing if he went from L&O:UK to Doctor Who. (Not to mention that after he left, Peter Davison took over as the DA-equivalent character!)

As far as I remember the rumblings began on the Friday before he was announced on the Saturday. The big difference was we did at least know for sure a new Doctor was going to be cast, even if we didn't know who it was.

I remember first seeing him on dr who confidential, and I was round a freinds house with other freinds, and one freind said "he's nowhere near as good as the old doctor", and I thought why not give him a chance, and when I heard he was going to wear a long leather coat, I thought "ok, he's gonna be cool!", and this was before I knew the tardis and sonic screwdriver and so on were changing, so i thought the whole idea suited the show. A while later I first saw the doctors bow tie and geography teacher outfit and I approved. When I saw Smith in the brief scene in the end of time, I instantly thought this guy's crazy, he's so gonna become my favourite doctor, how wrong I was. I blame Moffat.

Bt still, hope with doctor #12. I hav a feeling Smith will last a while longer though.

I know I never heard the name "Matt Smith" before his casting was officially announced.

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I'd actually seen him a few years earlier in The Jewel in the Smoke with Billie Piper, but I didn't realize that until I read it somewhere, because I hadn't remembered the name or much else about the production (except how lame it was to do something called The Sally Lockhart Mysteries and just have Sally stand around while her sidekicks did all the mystery-solving).

Conversely, when I saw the first images of Eccleston way back in late 2004 in his leather jacket and crew-cut, I thought, "Hmm, the production must want to keep the Doctor's appearance a secret until the debut."

I know I never heard the name "Matt Smith" before his casting was officially announced.

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Yea, and I remember after the first picture was released of him, the internet was ablaze with "Oh, GAWD, a Teenage Emo Doctor"

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And quite a few thought his own all-black ensemble he was wearing in that picture was actually going to be his outfit on the show, so he was labeled "the Goth Doctor" as well.

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Oh yea... I had forgotten all about that, though now, that you've reminded me, and I think back, I believe most of those who surmised he would be Goth were happier about it than those who surmised Emo Teenager, LOL

Back to the main subject, I think I found the site where Ben Daniels was rumoured to be doctor #12 here. I'd take this with a pinch of salt, the site looks very ameaturish, I think he may just be teasing and is probably whom he wants to be the new doctor.